♪ nightmare scenario but fortunately it did not become a nightmare, the only person here who had any injuries obviously is the deceased shooter. >> reporter: a gunman opened fire at a mall in new jersey sending terrifying shoppers fleeing for their lives and a police response and he is dead from a self inflicted gun challenge and they are trying to determine what caused him to snap. voters across the country are heading to the polls this election day and high profile races and important ballot measures to watch in several states. >> if anybody ever told me i would be living in my car i would have laughed and said that is just not a possibility. >> reporter: a new kind of

homeless middle class people who lost everything choosing to live out of their cars instead of shelters, why that is creating controversy in one community. ♪ ♪ so when the judge says and a man who spent 20 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit is using music to share his story and help other innocent victims. ♪ good morning and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie, the largest mall in new jersey is the scene of the nation's latest terrifying shooting incident and we learned a short time ago the lone gunman is dead and hundreds of people who hid in the mall last night are still there as police go store by store to make sure it's secure and it's still an active scene.

it was at the westfield garden state plaza 20 miles from new york city and erika is there this morning. >> you are right, this remains an active scene and police are still sweeping through the massive mall making sure everyone has gotten out okay. what we do know is the body of the shooter is still inside of the mall. police say the manhunt ended around 3:20 this morning and discovered the shooter in the back part of the mall that was under construction with a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. authorities identified the gunman if the westfield plaza mall shooting and 20-year-old richard shoop of new jersey and found dead inside the mall early this morning with an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound and dressed in black wearing a helmet and carrying a modified rifle made to look like an ak-47. >> this is the nightmare

scenario and fortunately it did not become a nightmare. the only person here who had any injuries obviously is the deceased shooter. >> reporter: authorities say shoop was well-known to them with a long police record and a history of drug use. it was a chaotic night, and hundreds of heavily armed police officer swarmed the mall after the shots were fired just before closing time. witnesses say they heard gunfire and people started running. >> get out and grabbing kids and grabbing stuff and dropped their things and we reacted the same way and just left and ran. >> reporter: shoop did not appear to target people inside the mall. even though he had the chance to fire his weapon at them. in fact, shoop was the only person who was shot. >> he walked past our store and looked in the store and strolled past and it was terrifying. >> reporter: they have been sweeping the mall all night long going store to store with k-9

units and people were in the mall for hours and locking themselves ms. the store as a precaution. >> fight ended people here tonight but law enforcement did an absolutely fabulous job. >> and police say they were able to close in on their suspect fairly quickly because they received a telephone call from a relative who reached out to them, they were concerned over the way he was acting in the days leading up to the shooting last night and police say that gun was obtained from shoop's brother legally and took it from his brother at the home four miles from this location. >> i'm sure we will hear more about the suspect as the day continues and we are in new jersey, thanks. >> earlier i spoke with the former sheriff of new jersey where the garden state plaza is located and they offered insights about how police prepare for situations like this. >> the first officers on the scene go into a group of four, if there are enough officers and

go directly to where the shooting is occurring. the idea is to mitigate the threat as quickly as possible and worry about victims. >> reporter: what does that mean to mitigate the threat and how do you find the shooter in such a large area? >> well, certainly you are going to have many, many people giving you reports, pointing and getting phone calls and dispatch will be notifying you there are certain areas of the mall or building is where the threat is. when you get in there you will start listening to the report, you will be seeing people running in the opposite direction and as you know law enforcement we go to the problem, not away. >> reporter: what specifically would they have done, drills? high-tech security, what types of things are in place for actual preparedness. >> we have an office of emergency management statewide and paramus and they practice table top or active drills where

they bring to bear all of these resources with whether it's ambulance or fire department or bomb sniffing dogs or robots you name it, all of the toys that we have quite frankly in law enforcement are brought to bear to make sure that when an incident occurs and hopefully never but in this particular case the system worked, the training worked and all the preparation was for a very, very good reason. >> is a mall any more vulnerable than, say, a movie theatre or any other public space? >> we know out in colorado in auora that that was not safe. that shooter had set up a ruse and people going out one exit and started picking them off one by one. in this particular case you have a big open area and hundreds of stores and thousands of people and dozens and dozens of doors to allow for a quick egress in case of fire or an incident like this. >> reporter: how much further really can malls go to protect people that are shopping there? it sounds like this mall among all malls in america has done as

much as can be done. >> we are well prepared to move about freely, we are putting ourselves at risk quite frankly anywhere, here in new york city, you can go down 8th avenue or time square with all of the police presence and surveillance that is there, a lone shooter could evident themselves and do some harm. the idea though is to mitigate the threat, i will use those words again, identify the shooter, identify the threat, suppress it in whatever way is necessary to make sure that there are no additional casualties. >> reporter: and we will continue to follow developments out of paramus, new jersey through the morning and four suspects in kenya mall attack are pleading not guilty and they are citizens and charged with terrorism monday in a nairobi court and a dozen more are sought and al shabaab is taking

responsibility and people were killed last month. a lock down at connecticut was closed when a man with a sword was spotted. 21-year-old student is charged with brief of peace and the son of a professor at school and his son went to a party dressed as an ninja and did not have another set of close and newtown is less than an hour's drive from the campus. they are heading to the polls and in the swing state of virginia the governor race is making headlines and they are getting strong support from the tea party but struggled to attract mainstream republicans and the polls show him 6% above terry and the chairman is scoring points by promising to fix the healthcare bill. big names from the parties turned out to campaign including

the president and vice president as well as gop senator marco rubio. and boston will get its first new mayor in two decades and tom is retiring. a landslide win in new york is expected by bill deblazio and kasim reed is facing three challengers and houston has 8 opponents and a tight race against ed murray and who takes detroit will have limited powers and al jazeera explains why. >> after decades of decline detroit will elect the first white mayor since 1974. [cheers and applause] former hospital ceo mike duggan heads to tell shun with a strong lead over fellow democrat wayne county sheriff napolean and the

poll has him ahead by 24%. >> about the poll results so far i have a three letter word, wow. >> reporter: university of detroit marketing processor said the lead shows that in a city that is over 80% african/american there is support for new leadership regardless of race. it appears his reputation is being a fix-it man appeals to voters looking for change and touting his record of after hauling the suburb bus station and rescuing the hospitals from ruin in the detroit medical center. >> a black city and somebody believes he can do something. >> reporter: and there are those who believe the same about napoleon, a life, long resident with a long history in law enforcement with a familiar face for detroiters. whoever becomes mayor their immediate impact may be limited.

an emergency manager is in charge of the city for at least another year. sheriff napoleon says his first order of business will be to change that. >> get rid of kevin is my number one job. >> reporter: he has taken a consilliatory. >> i hope i can run the city january 1. >> reporter: facing $18 billion in long-term dead a federal judge decision on bankruptcy may have more immediate impact on this city than who the voters pick tuesday. still they share the same passion, to fix what is broken, improve public services and the quality of life and lead detroit in the uncertain future. al jazeera detroit. >> reporter: and in new jersey today an easy reelection victimry is predicted for governor chris christie and leading the challenger in the latest polls by more than 20

percentage point and he is mentioned as a republican candidate, in 2016 and it was raised during the campaign and john has more on the new jersey race from asberry and john it's great to see you so tell us about this exciting new jersey race and why we should care. >> it's quite exciting but not for the reasons you would expect, this is the park and chris christie grew up here and fond memories of being a teenager here and the convention center is known in part of the world and the jersey shore and chris christie will come and deliver hopefully a victory speech and the polls open now and until 8:00 tonight. i could tell you about the local politics how his opponent is barbara bono and a career politician here and not well-known outside of political

circles and trouble raising money and raised $2-3 million and christie has 13, 14 million and trouble getting her message out and she wants to raise tax and he wants to cut it except the super rich and the business report in jersey is not great and unemployment the rate is 1% higher across the whole country but you done want to know about that because the reason we are here is if chris christie does well today then it bolsters his chances of running for the white house in 2016 and if that were to be a race against hillary clinton just say it for the democrats and that would be quite something, stephanie. >> reporter: just saying, how do the people of new jersey feel about possibly losing their presumptive governor in two year's time if christie were to run for president? >> i think they are paying particular attention to the lieutenant governor running along chris christie because he may have to go and fight in the

primaries in 2015, 2016 and they resign to it to be honest. the polls are in governor christie's favor and he was 28 points ahead of barber bono and the reason for that is that chris christie is a big character. new jersey people don't know who barbara bono is and have not really had a chance to hear about her policies because she is relying on the internet and personal appearances and governor christie is blitzing the television with 13-14 million war chest. governor christie is known in new jersey and around the country after hurricane sandy and how he welcomed that and welcomed president obama to the city before the 2012 election. for all of those reasons it seems christie will do well today and could have a landslide for many years. >> reporter: we will see and live in new jersey, thanks, john.

besides choosing leaders voters have issues to settle, in washington state to label genetically modified foods is on the ballot and the first law in the country. colorado there is a proposal to tax marijuana sales and use that money to build schools and enforce drug laws. recreational pot use is already legal there. 11 colorado counties are asking voters if they would like to succeed from the state. supporters want to form a separate state called new colorado and in drought-stricken texas proposition 6 would have 2 billion for water projects and mark schneider has more from dallas. >> this is where sailboats should float but these are grounded. this is lake lavon near dallas where lack of rain has water 12 feet below normal. >> it's prone to drought and we don't know when it will begin or how long or how severe lit -- it

will be. >> reporter: it aims to take $2 billion from a state account for unexpected expenses called the rainy day fund and use it to make loans to understand of water projects, fixing and replacing leaking pipes and creating new lakes and launching conservation efforts. >> and the state recognizes that since conservation is key to extending our current available supplies which then delay those future projects, we have to increase the knowledge and awareness of the importance of water and that is a finite resource. >> reporter: it's a circumstances where the groups like sierra club and rick perry are on the same team but there are some folks who do want to nix prop six 6 and they are skeptical of the panel on the water board which would have control over all of the funding. >> i think it's the fact when

you put $2 million and the ability to control the next 50 years of private land development this texas in the hands of three people it's too much temptation for three people and what i would propose is we have more eyes on it, more people distributing the power. >> reporter: so texas voters have to decide if they want to turn on $2 billion tap now to help alleviate the long-term impact of the drought. >> reporter: texas could face critical water shortages in the future if it does not pass and the state's population is expected to double by 2060 and existing water supplies will decrease 10 percent during that time. the country may be surprised to see snow this soon and it's a fact in some areas and we have metrologist nicole mitchell. good morning. >> we are in november now and that is the part of the year in northern midwest and somewhere

we are getting snow this morning like rapid city we typically have our first snow in mid october and remember we had the early season blizzard that was a little earlier than normal, the one that killed all the cattle and parts of south dakota this is not the first snow of the season and getting late to have the first snow of the season but somewhere like minneapolis the average date is november 2, we had three days in october with just traces of snow so this would be almost right on track for getting the first snow of the season so we have the high pressure that moved off and a front coming in, the flow around the high is helping bring the moisture into the area so the interaction with that where we have the cold air, that is that corridor of snow we will see and some places 6" and because we are right on the line of the warmer air, this is going to be a heavy, wet snow. what that means is that the branches, it could weigh some of those down and crack on power

lines and that is some problems just besides the driving in this region of the country and something to worry about and we have the winter weather advisories and already the snow? south dakota and nebraska like minnesota and michigan and we will talk about the temperature side of this. >> reporter: nsa collection of phone records will not stop any time soon despite opposition in congress and overseas and the "new york times" says the obama administration sees no way around the policy and advisors are reportedly telling the president that new technology is needed for targeted phone and internet searches. and until it's developed the bulk storage will continue. the senate will debate a bill to promote fairness on the job, the employment nondiscrimination act would band discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender americans and could be passed before the end of the week and it failed 17 years ago

by a single vote. >> silent for the last two years due to a stroke under two years ago. i have risen to speak because i belief so passionately in enacting the statute. particularly appropriate for illinois republican to speak on behalf of this measure in the true tradition of event dirksson and abraham lincoln with the 1964 civil rights act and the 13th amendment to the constitution. >> reporter: it may not come up for a vote in the house and john boehner said it could cost jobs and bring lawsuits. they are leaving the island in droves and what is behind this? giving new meaning to asleep at the wheel and americans are being forced to live out of their cars, and how one community is giving them a safe place to do it.

♪ ♪ and an innocent man who spend his life behind bars using music to heal his emotion scars. ♪

. ♪

good morning and welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy and the struggles that are forcing families out of puerto rico but first we will look at the temperatures. >> we will expect the midwest with the front coming through, the same one bringing the snow, this is where the temperature divides across the country and behind it 20s and 30s and temperatures this morning in the 50s, really watch this from wisconsin down to iowa and we have fog with the temperature and cities like oclare and temperatures at 30 the fog is freezing and makes it slick as you head your way out the door. as we continue off for the next couple days temperatures in the south are going to stay more mild for us and you can see already this morning but the flow from the south means

memphis will be 71 today and cooler spots but not as the bad as the midwest and temperatures in the 50s up and down the east coast. ly talk more about the rain and the snow coming up, in a little bit and stephanie. >> thank you. puerto rico is called the greece of the caribbean and andy meets people turning their backs on the island to find a better life. >> they sold just about everything they own. and mandy his wife and two sons are about to set off on a well-worn path taken by tens of thousands of people before them and struggling to get buy and they are moving to florida. >> translator: there are better schools, a better education, right now my sons don't have a

social studies teacher and their teachers are missing and they will have a shot at a better education. crime here is sky high. am i going to raise two criminals? no, i don't think so. this is the time to leave. >> reporter: one look at the neighborhood and you can begin to understand why people are leaving businesses, houses and schools are boarded up and unemployment is at a two-year high and there is talk of default. one of the only businesses still open on the main street is owned by martinez and he lived here 25 years and thinking of going back to the dominican republic. >> translator: the people running the country have us all bankrupt and it's going to stay that way. right now we are running the business ourselves, me, my brother and my mother and doing it for free and not making any money. >> reporter: there are still signs of commerce here but the economy is shrinking at an alarming rate, the unemployment rate is 13% and some economists

say it's 3 times higher. >> the more inequality you have the less healthy is the country and where we are headed now and if we don't stop the vicious circle we are at a race to the bottom, competing with i don't know who and competing for what and we must stop this. >> and they are in and out of recession since 2006, the island is $70 billion in debt and lost 200,000 workers in the past couple years and heading toward default and the u.s. is monitoring but without financial aid life for 3.5 million people who still leave her could get breaker and andy in san juan. >> reporter: they are trying to dispel bankruptcy rumors and a third of the people say they would consider leaving the island to find work. here is what is making news in the business world, stock futures are lower at this hour and may see selling when the markets open annual street is

coming off of small gains and the big index are trading near record highs and the dow rose 23 points to 15639 and s&p posted a gain and dow and s&p are on the biggest gains in ten years and nasdaq riding the buying wave and european central bank and england are meeting thursday. waiting to hear what they do about interest rates. asia and stocks ending and tokyo and shanghai had modest gains and hong kong had a decline. jp settlement talks with the government are heating up and would talk about the sale of questionable mortgage bonds during the housing boom. negotiators are working out the final details and a deal could be reached by the end of the week. if you are looking for yogo advice or computer repair tips google wants to help with a how

to site that connects people with experts with live video and it will begin taking calls today and the fees are 20% of the revenue going to google. the 70s had mood rings but today there is a mood car. later this month toyota will unveil a vehicle that actually changes color according to the driver's mood and it will make destination suggestions based on facial expressions but you can't by it yet. it is still a work in progress. well, it's election day across america and we will break down some of the most important races and the situation in syria getting worst, the humanitarian crisis effecting millions and what world leaders hope to do about it. >> it's a struggle everyday and there are days that it's hard to just wake up and want to keep going. >> reporter: how the unemployed and under plowed who have lost their homes are offered a safe

place to spend the night. >> i'm john henry smith and injury on monday night football could shake up the race and read the text of the isvoicemail shaking up the miami dolphins locker room, next in sports.

welcome back, i'm stephanie sy, it is, election day and polls have been open a half hour and could result in next year's mid terms and we will have what is at stake. >> new yorkers will pick a new mayor and according to the latest polls the heavily democratic city might have it's first democratic mayor in 20 years. >> for new york city i say thank you. >> reporter: and bill leads the

polls ahead of joe, a win could bring an end to the much debated stop and frisk policy a crime fighting tatic that amounts to racial profiling, in new jersey the race could be a precursor for the gop presidential hopes in 2016. governor chris christie is leading democratic challenger deborah bono in the polls and he garnered support from officials in the heavily democratic state and has many in the g o p saying she could deliver in the next presidential election. >> we node to show the republican party in america we can win again and guess where they will be wafing on tuesday night to see if we can win, right here in new jersey. >> would the next governor of the great common wealth of virginia, terry mcculla. >> reporter: they are hoping to make a difference in virginia and support behind terry and ken

as an extreme tea party candidate to help shut down the government. >> they can't afford to be along, they have to work with everybody and compromise and get the job done and that is who terry mcauliffe is and should vote for him on tuesday. >> reporter: he pushed ahead with the limited government and the tea party is looking to strengthen politics and going against a candidate in a special primary runoff, this election reveiling divide inside the gop. so this off-year election cycle should show where voters stand now for the party and looking forward to next year's crucial mid term elections, al jazeera. >> reporter: with no house or senate seats in the ballot, election day 2013 is thought to be an off year but there are a few reasons nationwide that could be game changers. here to break them down is

dominick carter. mr. carter thanks for joining us this morning. >> good morning and happy election day. >> it's always exciting to see the democratic process. what race are you excited about watching today? >> if i had to specify i would say virginia and new jersey, those are the bell weathers. >> let's start with the virginia. >> exciting. >> in the lead, terry and a lot of people are saying this is a referendum either on obamacare or on the tea party, what do you think? >> that is accurate but it's another referendum if you want to put it in there and that is a referendum on the government shut down and is it going to hurt republicans. now, you mentioned terry and he is another issue to throw in there and he worked for the clintons and raised a lot of money for the clintons and if polls are accurate and he has been in the lead for the last couple of months, stephanie, but

if the polls are accurate he will be governor and lost in 09 and seen as a major victory for hillary and bill clinton going forward. if the republican candidate should lose and you mentioned an off year election, you are accurate, and in an off year election history has shown in the state of virginia that tends to go toward the more conservative candidate pulling out the conservative base but that is not happening right now and remember in virginia the governor is under criminal investigation so he can't have coat tails to help the republican attorney general, it's very interesting. >> it's a purple state that is interesting to watch as well. >> and leading democrat lately, lately. >> why should the country care so much about the new jersey race, chris christie is most likely going to win the race and 20 points above, why should we care? >> excellent question and the reason we should care because this race in new jersey could

very well shape national politics for the next couple of years to come. if governor christie who is winning way ahead, if he is able to crack let's say stephanie's 60%. >> which would be extraordinary. >> extraordinary. >> a mandate. >> it would be a mandate. but more than a mandate it would say going into the election year politics that chris christie would be a new type of republican. now, remember lately what we have been witnessing from the national party candidates for mitt romney on are pulled to the far right and if they are moderate and thus not able to appeal in the general election. chris christie has basically said stephanie i'm going to do this my way. and so we will see he has you know a lot of appeal, excellent governor in terms how how he handled the hurricane and the hug of president obama did

miracles for him. this after all new jersey is a blue of blue state. >> reporter: all right dominick carter we will have to leave it there and thanks and happy election day to you. >> you too. >> dominick carter. operations are back to normal this morning at the los angeles airport, four days after the shooting spree which killed a tsa agent increased security remains in place at lax, one tsa officer was shot twice in the foot during the attack and tony is speaking out for the first time. >> hoping the man trying to get to a safe area, i turned around and there was a gunman and shot me twice. >> reporter: the suspect 23-year-old paul ciancia is in critical condition under heavy sedation at the ucla medical center and his family apologized monday for the death of tsa officer hernandez. >> it's most important for us as a family to express our deep and

sincere sympathy to the hernandez family and he was a good family man and hearts go out to his family and many others who grieve his passing. >> reporter: attorney john jordan said the family is shocked and numbed by the shootings and they are cooperating fully with law enforcement. the crisis in syria may be getting even worse. the united nations said nearly 9.5 million people in the war-torn country need humanitarian assistance and that is 40% of the population and a big jump from a few months ago, in september they reported 6.8 million people needed help. 6.5 million syrians are homeless and that is the population of massachusetts. 2 million people fled syria. 4.5 more are internally displaced. let's go to al jazeera's phil who is in geneva where the arab

league is meeting with senior diplomates in a new bid to start talks on syria and good morning and it has been a struggle to shore up support for talks, has there been any progress today? >> there certainly is progress in the sense that all the international players who have a say in what happens in syria have met or are meeting here today. notably the u.s. is here and under secretary of state wendy sherman representing the u.s. and the russians and the russians and americans brokered the important deal in october that took the world back from the brink of war in syria and we are learning some of the members of the permanent u.n. security council are here and would include the chinese and germans and several others and we do hope or at least we are hearing from brahimi in his office there will be a joint meeting later in the day and brahimi said he is

actually hopeful that talks today will result in a set date for the so called geneva two peace talks to bring not only the international community but those syrian players to the table in a concerted peace negotiation effort. >> speaking of which the opposition and the main opposition party has been skeptical of this conference all along and laid out conditions if it is to attend these talks, what is the latest on that? >> there is the fly in the ointment, stephanie and that is the problem. international players are here but the syrians are not. either side of the equation, whether it's the opposition or the regime they are not here. so there has been some criticism that the international players can talk as much as they want but until the actual combatants come to the table there is little hope for real progress and there is a problem with that because both sides disagree on the future of the president bashir al-assad.

>> more middle class americans are ending up homeless and unable to afford rent or make mortgage payments and many are forced to live in their cars and it's unsafe and in some cities illegal but safe parking lots are helping people to get back in real homes and david schuster reports it's a visible solution to an often hidden problem. >> reporter: just before 6:00 p.m. as others start their commute home from work theresa heads to a church in san diego and it's not religion she is after, it's the parking lot. >> this is our office, what we use, so we have a file cabinet with paperwork and basic toilets and snacks we get for donation and want to make sure they have what they need. >> reporter: smith and the nonprofit she founded dreams for change run what is called a safe parking program renting the lots from the church and a united states center nearby, it's one

of a dozen programs and 85 sites on the west coast providing a safe haven for 59% of homeless who lived in their cars. >> how is your case load? >> going good. >> reporter: this started in august 2010 when a new face of homelessness emerged and middle class accustom to security and suddenly adrift in long-term unemployment. >> to the shelters and come back in tears saying that is not me. i'm not really homeless, i'm just in between right now and what do i do and where do i go? >> reporter: 76% of those in the lot report some sort of income but struggle with under employment or jobs that pay just a fraction of what they are used to. >> just because you are homeless doesn't mean you are not working and just because you are homeless doesn't mean you don't want to work, you do, because you want the security you had. >> reporter: 57-year-old

kathryn williams was a receptionist until 2009 but the $10,000 salary barely paid for a hotel room and she lost her library job and moved into her car. >> it is a lot easier and you parked on the side of the street and the police will come alone and wake up and get out and go away. >> reporter: seniors 55 and older are 1-5 of those parked in the lots and veterans like allen account for another 20%. >> it's a struggle everyday and there is days that it's hard to just wake up and want to keep going. >> reporter: after 12 years in the marine corps and deployment in both gulf wars he left if military in may and finishing a degree in bio engineering and looking for full time work but so far only landed part time gigs. >> that is reality for a lot of us and i'm one of many veterans in a situation like this.

>> reporter: the safe parking program has strict rules in by 9:00 a.m. and out by 7:00 a.m. and zero tolerance for alcohol, drugs or violence, a criminal check for new applicants and agreement with one on one financial counseling and can stay as long as you want provided you continue to work to get back into housing. >> if anybody had ever told me i would be living in my car i would have laughed and said that is just not a possibility. >> reporter: in 2010 kevin spent nine months in the lot, unable to find work for two years and depleted a savings account from a collection jobs that once earned him six figures. >> the kinds of people on the lot with me were professionals and attorneys and a nurse, if they were not on my lot they were the people who used to live next door to me in the house. >> reporter: he had work living in his car and found his way into an apartment and brand new car he uses only to drive to his new job. but safe parking programs have

come under fire from nearby residents concerned about neighborhood safety and dreams for change recently shut down the third lot after repeated community complaints. >> no offense people like you come in here, you don't have to put up with these people. >> reporter: more than a thousand miles away this seattle local homeowner frank says a growing population of people living in cars and rv have a host of problems. >> they steal from us. they drop their trash wherever they want. they bring the property value down because who wants to buy a house with a campground of america across the street. >> reporter: it helped create seattle's program last year and a few bad eggs may lurk among the residents but 70% are first-time homeless, desperate to get back on their feet. >> we want to have a safe community working together and people who need help can get into housing and employment and live the american dream that we all feel that we are justified

towards. >> a dream that student mel database forces herself to keep in mind each night that she and her four children spend crammed in her small sedan. >> about a week ago i just didn't want to come back to the parking lot in my car. it was hard. but, you know, hopefully at the end of the line i'll have something better to offer my kids. so it's temporary, and it will be over soon. >> reporter: david schuster al jazeera. >> we have sports and the scandal in south beach and good morning. >> sunday the miami dolphins said neither jonathan martin and no other player complained about being bullies and 24 hours later they were singing a different tune after there was evidence

over the course of several months and they sent martin countless threatening messages on text and voicemails and threatened him with that and against his mother and turned it to nfl for further investigation and suspended him indefinitely. now here is a transcript of one of the voicemails incognito left for martin, hey, what is up you half n word piece of blank, i saw you on tweeter and i want to blank in your blanking mouth and slap your blanking mouth and real mother across the face blank you you are still a rookie i will kill you end quote and reaction around the league has been varied. >> since april 10, 2012 when the players first came here and i was the head coach every decision i made, everything we have done to this facility has

been done with one thing in mind and that is to help our players and our organization reach their full potential and any type of conduct, behavior that detracts from that objective is not acceptable and tolerated. >> i don't feel we were bullying anybody we were doing what teams do playing with your brothers and i'm not going to say too much about it because i don't know. >> this is commonplace and bullying happens everywhere in high school and nfl locker rooms and maybe not to this extent and locker rooms, there is this underlying code that what happens in the locker room stays many the locker room like vegas but for a number of reasons this is public knowledge and again to this extent i have not seen anything like this in the nfl. >> culture of hazing not just in professional sports but in

really all sports, youth and high school sport, when it's fun and shaving somebody's head at the professional level and sometimes making them pay for dinners that is hazing. when it becomes personal, the threats of violence, that is when it crosses the line and it's no longer funny and then it really becomes serious. >> it's important for folks to know that incognito is bad and he went to anger management classes and they made him go in the first round and they wanted to steer clear and not drafts to the third and no surprise with regard to the individual. a lot of people steered clear. there is a big red flag about him coming out of nebraska. >> on the field the packers hosted the bears on monday night football and first series of the game, green bay is in the red zone and aaron rodgers try to avoid trouble but it finds him and drops him and injuries his

non-throws shoulder to boot and he left and no return and no word on how bad he is hurt and they hope the backup is as good as the bear's backup and he gets the pass off to brandon marshall for 23 yard touchdown and bears 17-10 up. he has eddy lacy to hand off to and 56 yards and 56 of the 150 and lacy scores to tie at 17. fourth quarter and bears down 3 and mccall and chicago backup throws 272 and chicago wins 27-20. that is sports at the hour. >> thank you. and we spent nearly two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit and how one falsely accused man is turning to music to work through struggles and help others. ♪

>> audiences are intelligent

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america, just ahead how a falsely convicted man who spent nearly 20 years in prison is using music to help others but first let's look at what

potential precipitation we are looking at across the u.s. and nicole mitchell is here. >> weather can impact elections and there is a few going on around the country today. warm moisture means people will stay at home so that can cause problems. we will talk more about the rain, snow in the midwest coming up, but i want to look at some moisture we had pulling through texas and into parts of the southern plains. texas actually has proposition 6 which talks about water resources and management of that under vote today and most of the state has been a dry or drought conditions but we had resent areas of rain so one of the sides is concerned that resent rain may think long-term and not thinking about water resources when you do. a plume of moisture across the southern tier of the country and the northern side where the front is we have combinations of rain and places switching to snow and we will talk more about that coming up. >> thank you. imagine being sentenced to life in prison for a crime you didn't

commit. and after nearly 20 years behind bars the charges are dismissed. as al jazeera's jonathan martin reports it's a true story of injustice that has been put to song. ♪ clearance harrison is sharing his story in a way he never has. ♪ knew i was innocent ♪ so when the judge had his say ♪ ♪ in 1987 he was miss identified this a police line up and convicted for the rape and robbery of a woman near atlanta. >> how can they possibly find me guilty. >> 18 years to be released. >> reporter: 18 and 40 years and a decade of lost appeals he gave up hope and had been told dna evidence from the case had been destroyed until a discovery by the georgia innocence project. >> we went to the da attorney office and inside the box we were looking for documents but inside the box one of my law

students found the slides. >> that the truth will exonerate me. >> reporter: since being released he has devoted his life to supporting the group who helped clear his name and working to review other cases. ♪ what is justice and an accomplished musician and volunteer at the georgia innocence project and friend ben were asked to write a song to help raise money for the organization and they sat down with clearance. >> there was some emotion that happened between the three of us, a kind over lightning strike happened. >> it was overwhelming and gets overwhelming thinking about it. >> reporter: that three-hour conversation went to a 12-song project and tells the tragic and redeeming story and talks about the last time he saw his mother's face the day he was

sentenced. ♪ my mom's face she did not see me, she went to her grave that i had been falsely accused of something i didn't do. ♪ i would give everything ♪ to see my mamma's face the music is performed by melanie and band and spoken words by clearance. >> he has an lyracal describing the experience. >> only god knows that. >> and the song it may be my life story but i just want people to know this life story that i went there and there are people going through it today, they need to come out of there. >> and i think the more he tells the story the more i see him letting go. >> reporter: today he is married to the woman who first told him about the innocence project while he was in prison. he still struggles with letting go of anger and hurt from the

past but through this music he says he is finding a new kind of healing. jonathan martin al jazeera atlanta. >> at the end of the first hour we are following this, a man who entered the new jersey mall with a gun killed himself. election day and voters across the country are choosing state and local leaders and they are meeting the top u.n. syria envoi and pushing for peace talks. >> i'm john henry smith and a surprise team in nba came to earth and from the city of brotherly love next in sports. al jazeera continues and i'm back with you in 2 1/2 minutes. ♪ desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you.

(vo) al jazeera america we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. (vo) we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capitol. (vo) we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. (vo) and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news.

>> tonight on al jazeera america change the way you look at news tune into live news at 8 and 11 >> i'm john seigenthaler and here's a look at the headlines.. >> infomation changes by the hour here... >> our team of award winning journalists brings you up to the minute coverage of today's events... then, at 9 and midnight. america tonight goes deeper with groundbreaking investigative coverage of the nation's top stories... >> a fresh take on the stories that connect to you... >> live news at 8 and 11 eastern followed by america tonight on al jazeera america there's more to it.

>> this is the nightmare scenario that unfortunately didn't become a nightmare. the only person here who had any injuries is the deceased shooter. >> a you know man opens fire in a mall in new jersey, sending shoppers fleeing and prompting a massive police response. the gunman is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. >> heading to the polls for the off year election. while turnout is expected to be low, there are state and city races that have high interest. >> a meeting is underway in geneva as a troubling new u.n. report suggests a massive

humanitarian crisis in syria is getting worse. >> a midair collision caught on camera by one of the sky divorce involved. >> that video will have your heart racing. welcome to aljazeera america. >> a lot of people waking up this morning to news about that shooting in new jersey, the gunman killed himself, thankfully nobody was injured, but shoppers obviously very nervous after the spate of shootings we've seen. >> this happened around closing time. this is an active scene as people are still leaving that mall. stephanie, it is election day on this tuesday across the country. we're tracking a number of closely watched contests that could impact the national scene, including one governor.

several years ago, he said i'm not going to run, he very well could run for the white house. >> i think i know who you're talking about. later in the hour, we'll talk to washington post reed wilson. he's going to break down some of the elections and referendums. there's some interesting once. >> the senate moving forward you with a bill to end dress continual nation of guys and lesbians in the workplace. we sat down with one man, who will discuss how this will impact him in finding a job. >> our top story, the largest mall in new jersey is the scene of the nation's latest terrifying shooting incident. we just learned that the lone gunman is in fact dead. hundreds of people who hid in the mall last night are still there as police go store to store, making sure it's secure and it is still a very active scene. the shooting took place at the

west field garden state plaza, about 20 miles from new york city. we're going to go to erika ferrari for our latest report. >> the gunman is 20-year-old richard shoop, found dead in the mall this morning with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> i don't know whether his motive was to injure anyone. i can't say that right now, but i do not believe he thought he would come out of here this evening alive. >> witnesses say he was dread head to toe in black wearing a helmet and carrying a modified rifle made to look like an ak47. >> fortunately, it didn't become a nightmare. the only person here who had injuries is the deceased shooter. >> authorities say the man was well known to oh them, had a long police record and a history of drug use.

>> an individual that uses drugs and gets involved in those things, what happens is their life sooner or later begins to take certain turns that in this case was t as mr. shoop. >> hundreds of police officers swarmed the mall after the shots were fired just before closing time. witnesses heard gunfire and people started running. >> they all wanted to get out, grabbing their kids, their stuff, they grabbed all their things. we saw that, reacted the same way and left. we ran. >> he did not appear to target people inside the mall. >> he walked past our store, looked directly in the store and stroll would past. it was very, very terrifying. >> police and swat teams have been sweeping the mall all night long, going store to store with canine units. they say hundreds of people were independence the store for hours, locking themselves inside the store as a precaution.

>> we are doing a secondary search on the stores. many stores have lockdown procedures, they have locked themselves in the store and we need to go store by store to get these people out and to get them out and let them know everything is safe here. >> aljazeera's erika ferrari joins us now. what are you seeing right now? what's the scene? >> well, it is still a very active scene here. you hear helicopters overhead. there's hundreds of police officers and swat teams still on scene. of course, the suspect is deceased inside of the mall. police tell us he killed himself with a gunshot wound to the head. it is also interesting to note that authorities say a family member had reached out to them and that's part of the reason they were able to zero in on the suspect so quickly, as we mentioned, earlier, shoop had a long history of drug use.

police believe his main motive was suicide. >> have you seen people leaving the mall? i understand people were still hunkered there in the middle of the night. are they gone now? >> we can't see that in the area we're in. this is the largest shopping mall in the state of new jersey, it is massive. they sort of have the press corps really ad off in different areas, but i was told by a source that overnight they had he brought in family members of people concerned, you know, that their relatives were still inside of the mall. they had brought them to an area where they spoke to them. police are still gathering evidence and again, it is a very active crime scene. >> again, thankfully, no one injured in this. >> two many accused of breaking into a middle school in denver with rifles and backpacks. a janitor reported the break in and police spotted the men on

security cameras. officers are searching the school to make sure it's safe for students. >> operations are back to normal at the los angeles international airport four days after the shooting scene that killed an agent. >> phony grace by is speaking out for the first time. >> while trying to get to a safe area, i turned around and from was a gunman and he shot me twice. >> the 20-year-old shooter is in critical condition. his family apologized of t.s.a. officer hernandez. >> it is most important for us as a family to expression our deep sympathy to the hernandez

family. he was an exemplary member of the community and family man. our hearts go out to the family in his passing. >> the family is shocked and numbed by the shootings and are cooperating fully with law enforcement. >> as we mentioned, it's election day, and in new jersey, governor chris christie is expected to win in trenton. the latest polls show him 20 percentage points ahead of his challenger. he is considered to be a republican presidential con tender in 2016. his opponent took him to task about that during the campaign. we have more on the race from asbury park in new jersey, john, i imagine polls are open by now. what can you tell us about this race? >> well, they are. they opened at 6:00 in the morning here in new jersey and will be open until 8:00 tonight. governor christie is considered to be a contender for the 2016 republican ticket, because he has become a national politician, because the way he handled hurricane sandy,

standing up for new jersey and welcoming president barack obama just a handful of days after the 2012 presidential election. the feeling here is that because governor christie, who the polls suggest is showing he will win the election in a landslide, he appeals to a wild demographic, not only to republicans, in this very democratic state, but also to democrats and the majority of undecided voters here. because of that, that makes him a very tempting target for the republican party to push as their candidate in 2016. governor christie himself has said that the republican party at the national level will be looking at what he does here in new jersey. he's not saying whether he's running or not in 2016, but we know that he has his eye on what they call a higher prize. >> the democrats had a strong

contender, newark mayor corey booker, who instead chose to run and won for the is that the instead. >> isn't that the supreme irony, because the con tender up against governor christie is barbara bono, well known within the media and political circles, but not widely known outside that. she's had trouble getting her message out. she raised between $2 million and $3 million, governor christie $14 million. he's on t.v., she's relying on the internet and personal appearances. corey booker was the well known mayor of newark, new jersey who might have run for governor as a democratic, but didn't, chose to go to the senate instead, won his seat two weeks ago in an election that cost the state a lot of money. a lot of people think christie did that special election to keep the heat off him on this day. >> exciting day for voters, live in asbury park, thanks john. >> voters in virginia, the

governor's race there is making headlines. >> the republican is getting strong tea party support but struggled to attract mainstream republicans. the latest polls show him six percentage points behind the democratic. the former democratic national committee chairman is promising to fix the health care bill. >> voters in some of america's biggest cities are choosing new leaders today. boston will get its first new mayor in two decades. the mayor is retiring. >> in houston, denise parker has eight opponents. mike mcginn is in a very tight race against senator he had murray and whoever takes city hall in detroit will have to deal with the city's bankruptcy. >> in new york, democratic bill deblazio is expected to win, but his republican opponent isn't

going down without a fight. randall pinkton from aljazeera has more. >> he is trying to keep leadership in republican hands where it's been since rudy giuliani was first elected in 1993. >> we'll keep it financially sound. >> his opponent bill deblazio blames two decades of republican leadership for an income gap. >> several polls show bill deblazio with a commanding lead. a poll puts him up 45 points. the last time a democratic had that kind of lead going into an election was in 1985. >> the 52-year-old deblazio has a master's degree in

international affairs and long history of activism. he supported nicaragua and raced money. >> i'd like to introduce to you the next first lady of the great city of new york! >> he staged a come from behind victory over eight candidates thanks in part to a political ad featuring his son. it demonstrated more effectively than any speech the democratic's message that he would fight for every new yorker. >> loda, the son of a police officer supports stop and frisk and accuses deblazio of being inconsistent. >> he said over and over again the era of stop and frisk is over, then the other night saying we just need to train the caps. >> a week before the election, a

federal appeals court blocked a lower core ruling that the policy was unconstitutional. loda believes this will impact the election. >> it is very significant, it's ripped the heart out of the deblazio campaign. >> loda is married with one daughter. spent years in the private sector in finance before joining giuliani's administration. >> you are going to be very, very surprised on tuesday night. >> if polls are correct, lada will need a political miracle to win. tomorrow, voters will decide if it's time to end republican rule and give democrats a chance. randall pinkton, aljazeera, new york. >> >> let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchum. >> they say that democrats are slightly more likely to stay home when the weather is poor,

so that and close elections can make a difference. the other biggest factor is when the roads are snowy or icy, more people stay home, especially seen years, so once again, something that can impact polling, in city like minneapolis, 35 people threw their name into the hat. this could be our first accumulating snowfall for the twin cities. the average date for that is november 2, for the first snowfall is november 5. we'll have a round of high pressure, all this moisture coming in from the south. all this keeps it so you had ward warm, the combination with moisture switches the day from rain to snow. we're getting snow in rapid city. this is going to make things treacherous. we have all the winter weather advisories up through this area. ahead of this, actually enough

moisture for fog, freezing fog this morning in some citie citi. >> meteorologist, nicole mitchell, thank you. >> serious humanitarian crisis is far worse than first belied. a report from the united nations say nine and a half million syrians need help. >> a few months ago, that number was 6 million, 40% of the population, and about the same as chicago's metro area. the u.n. humanitarian chief urges the security council to make sure aid reaches syrians. it was promised vaccinations and aid will reach its people. let's go to geneva where the envoy is meeting with diplomats to start talks on syria. it has been a struggle trying to figure out who attends this peace conference. disagreements delayed the start for months now. is there any progress?

>> there's progress in the sense that all the international players are here in geneva, and meeting with the u.n. special envoy. he's been doing the rounds for the last six weeks or so since that agreement between the russians and americans here on how to deal with the syrian chemical weapons stockpile. he's made some progress, but as yet, there's no appearance by the actual syrian players in this conflict and so there's a lot of question as to whether any substantive can come out of today's talks. thomas. >> syrians have laid out conditions. what's the latest on that? >> well, that's the big sticking point here. the conditions that have been placed on both sides of the equation when it comes to the syrians is a question of what happens to president bashar al assad. the opposition won't come to the table if it is agreed that he's going to go and the of course the regime saying the opposite. they won't come to the table if

there's any talk of him leaving is a a categorical reason for beginning the talks. >> aljazeera's phil ittner, thank you. >> washington lawmakers working to stop discrimination. >> a bill is working its way nothing the senate. >> a candidate for governor looks to silence detractors. the revelation he's made about his personal life and why he says it has no effect on his ability to lead. >> a hedge fund giant strikes a deem with the u.s. government, agreeing to pay the largest fine ever for inside training.

>> good morning. welcome back to aljazeera america. >> coming up, the story of a transgender man and who you bill in the senate could help him land a job. >> the senate debating that bill today. first, let's look at what temperatures we can expect across the nation today with nicole. >> definitely the biggest contrast this morning is the midwest where we were talking

about that system turning to snow. along with that, we have the frontal boundary through the area, so that dividing the air masses, the colds, 20's and third's, ahead of that in the warm, more temperatures in the 50's this morning. as we get through the rest of the country today, the mild spot is going to be in the south. i'll have more on the wet weather coming up. >> meteorologist nicole mitchell, thank you. >> the senate is debating a bill today outlawing discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace. the act would affect any business with 15 or more employees. >> the bill includes spentions for religious organizations and members of the armed forces, but may have a tough time in the house. speaker john boehner opposes the bill and may not allow it on the floor. >> a man says the measure could change his life. >> chief malon became a man six years ago. he says as a transgender person, it was difficult to find work. >> on my birth certificate it

still says female. there was a time when my name wasn't changed on my i.d. it was getting in there and people getting to know me and seeing i'm good for the job. because of the paperwork, everybody has to stop and think, and i might, you know, be discriminated against. it's hurtful to think that. >> that thinking led him to rethink his career path from the music industry to lbgt anxious sigh. >> a lot of it had to do with my anxiety about being fired and not getting a job. i've definitely had to limit some of my options. >> leading him to lobby congress for the non-discrimination act. its passage would make it illegal for an employer to discriminate hiring on the base of sexual orientation and gender identity. democratic senator corey booker said:

>> the obama administration, along with 55 democratic senators support it. however, it would have many hurdles in the house where speaker john boehner opposes the measure. a spokesperson for boehner said the house speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous legislation and cost american jobs, especially small business jobs. boehner and house republicans say that existing measures already provide the needed protection from discrimination. >> we just live to fight another day if it doesn't pass. it will pass eventually. the american people are changing. this country is changing, definitely becoming more inclusive. >> the last time before the senate was 1996, when it lost by one vote, but advocates say they are getting closer and closer to

its passage. aljazeera, new york. >> we should point out current federal law prohibits discrimination on the base of sex, race and national origin. >> in maine, a congressman running for governor reveals that he is gay and said it shouldn't matter. he declared it monday in a newspaper op ed column. he said he did so to address campaigns by opponents about his personal life. he is the seventh openly gay member of the u.s. house. >> stock futures are lower this hour. we may see selling when the markets open. wall street is coming off small gains, the big indexes are still trading near record highs. let's look at the numbers here. the dow rose 23 points to 15, 639. the dow and s&p are on pace for

their biggest percentage gains in 10 years. european stocks are mostly lower right now. the central bank and bank of england meet thursday. investors are waiting to hear what they do about interest rates. >> in asia, stocks in tokyo and shanghai closed with modest gains. >> j.p. morgan talks with the government be heating up again. negotiators are working out final details. a deal could be reached by that the end of the week. the $13 billion deal would resolve several investigations into the bank's sale of mortgage bonds during the housing boom. >> s.e.c. capitol was known for bringing huge returns to investors and faces the largest penalty in history for insider trading. we have more. >> it was a big day for u.s. attorney pete barara who got an

admission of guilt and major fine. >> no institution should rest in the belief that it is too big to jail. that is a moral hazard that a just society can ill afford. law enforcement should not shy away from holding institutions responsible when it is justified and necessary for both deterrence and accountability. >> sec advisor pleaded guilty to five charges and agreed to pay $1.8 billion for a systematic trading scheme that took place between 1999 and 2010. six traders pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the government. two others are awaiting trial. the agreement provides no immunity for any individual, including the company's billionaire owner steve cohen, who's facing a civil lawsuit from the securities and exchange commission. his firm will no longer be

allowed to manage money for outside investors. >> this agreement comes amid reports federal prosecutors are on the verge of a $13 billion agreement with j.p. morgan chase over that bank's questionable mortgage procedures. both cases challenge the notion that some wall street firms are too big, too powerful and too important to the economy to prosecute. >> some analysts say criminal charges against chase would be a truer test. >> s.e.c. didn't pose the same risk to the economy of too big to jail problem, as one of the major money center banks, like city bank, bank of america, wells fargo or j.p. morgan would. if you had one of those banks charged criminally, it would limit their ability to transact business and you'd have massive layoffs, you'd have a real problem for the economy. >> the fines top the

$157 million hedge fund manager was ordered to pay, but he is also serving an 11 year prison sentence. prosecutors say criminal charges against cohen are still possible. aljazeera, new york. >> cohen has denied any wrongdoing in the matter. >> coming up, voters across the country heading to the polls today. >> in one state, residents will cast ballots on a special issue. >> why they want to a secede and create to new state. >> the parents of a california teen who was killed while holding a toy gun filing suit against the deputy who fired the fatal shots. >> i'm john henry smith. an injury on monday night football could shake the playoff race, ahead in sports. [[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the

impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours.

this is the 900-page document we call obamacare. it could change costs, coverage, and pretty much all of healthcare in america. my show sorts this all out. in fact, my staff has read the entire thing. which is probably more than what most members of congress can claim. we'll separate politics from policy, and just prescribe the facts.

>> welcome back. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm thomas drayden. good morning. the largest mall in new jersey is the scene of the nation's latest terrifying shooting incident. officials confirm the lone gunman is dead. hundreds who hid are still there, as police go store to store, making sure the mall is secure. >> talks are underway in switzerland, paving the way for a serious peace summit. the test to set up it up are stalled by who should attend and agenda. >> local leaders are being chosen across the nation. one ballot question reflects the isolation felt in rural communities. >> small town residents complain that their government is out of touch. activists in at least seven states are now talking about

secession, threatening to break away and form a new state. we have more from colorado. >> ronnie and chuck sylvester's roots run deep on their land in lasalle, 50 miles north of denver in rural weld county. lately, they say their home state is a house divided. >> there is getting to be such a great disconnect and unfortunately has kind of drawn the line between urban people and those on the land. >> the sylvesters say colorado's new energy regulations, tougher gun laws and even legalized marijuana reflect the values of colorado cities, not their part of the world. >> we're so sparsely populated, they don't need us. they don't need our vote, so they've become pretty arrogant and just ram rodding whatever they want through. >> in this election, 11 rural county are voting on whether to

become the 51st state, new colorado. >> with all due respect. >> secession was hotly debated at a packed meeting. >> frankly, i think this is a waste of our time and tax paying money. >> i grew up in western slope and this doesn't feel like home anymore. >> the odds are stacked very heavily against secession. it would have to pass in denver in the statehouse, then pass in washington in congress. it's only happened that way once before, back in 1820, when maine broke away from massachusetts. in 1863, west virginia carved itself ouch virginia, but that was during the civil war. >> secessionists say they are sending city actualliers a message. >> people have no clue where their food, or natural gas for their home comes from. >> let them know we do in fact provide something that they do need. >> it's a catch 22, rural

residents who have lost political power and want to secede lack the numbers to pull it off. >> it is a shrinking percentage of the american population so has a shrinking influence. >> richard collins, a professor at the colorado universe of law says it will get attention. >> this is very successful as a means of publicizing one's grievances and that may bear fruit in future elections. >> almost certainly not when this year's votes are counted. aljazeera, denver. >> just one of the issues. for a look at closely watched referendums from coast-to-coast, we are joined by read wilson, joining us from washington this morning. good election day to you, mr. wilson. >> this morning. >> i want to stay in colorado, because a pair of tax measures are on the ballot to raise money for school funding, a boost of a

million dollars. it has to do with marijuana. >> there are two referenda on the ballot, one would levy taxes on decriminalized marijuana. this was a part of the law passed by voters in 2012 when they decriminalized marijuana. they said you can't without taxing it, now because of a bill called the taxpayer bill of rights passed in the 1990's, they have to vote on every single tax increase. they are voting on a $67 million tax levee on marijuana, and then a $950 million tax levee that will all go to fund education. that tax will be on income. two different tax issues there, but because of bills that passed in the 1990's, voters have to head to the polls to finalize legalization of marijuana. >> i think we would see strong opposition to use marijuana

money to fund education. >> the opposition that you're seeing to this particular bill comes from those who already run marijuana dispensaries, they have a virtual monopoly on the marijuana market. they don't want to allow everybody else to sell it, as well. so the funny thing is in a lot of states where you've seen marijuana legalization and decriminalization bills come up, it's the marv industry that is fighting against those. >> let's head to the garden state of new jersey. governor chris christie likely to get reelected. what wasn't popular was raising the state's minimum age to 25. today, voters could have the final say. >> voters are voting whether or not to put a minimum wage increase in the state constitution, and that would also adjust the minimum wage in an on going basis. 11 states have those what are cold kola's, the cost of living adjustments on the minimum wage.

new jersey would be the 12t 12th state if it did. chris christie vote toed that when it passed early last year. that was an important veto for him as he looks ahead to the possible 2016 election. you don't want to be the guy who raised the minimum wage in the republican primary. >> over in washington state, a multi-million dollar fight will be held today on whether to label genetically modified food. it is evenly split. >> we've seen these g.m.o. bills come up in different states, bringing pressure from environmental activists on one side who want to be able to label every product genetically modified and opposition from business interests like monsanto and conagra and dupont, the big firms that modify the seeds. they say that would put too much of a burden on business. here's one hint about how heated this election can get. already the two sides have

$2,027,000,000 in washington state alone. of that $27 million, a grand total of $550, dollars, period, that's it, is from actual people in washington state. all the rest is outside groups. >> we know local issues can have a big impact on the national scene, as well. thank you for joining us. >> turning overseas. despite talks of a ceasefire, there is no sign fighting is stopping in the democratic republic of congo. in the east, civilians have been caught in the crossfire as m23 rebels battle the congolese army. >> every one of these rockets has to be loaded by hand and the government's been firing hundreds of them at the m23 rebels for days. at this base, they prepare for yet another day of the assault on the remaining rebel positions. this woman is used to war, but

says she's never seen the government fight like this. >> we've had war for over 10 years. we've had to sleep in the bush, run for our lives. we lose all our property. people die of hunger. we suffer. we would like to see our government take control now. it's a big chance for us. >> toward the front line, these men reload a tank. the political wing of m23 have called for a ceasefire, but the government didn't accept, so the bombardment carries on. then civilians start coming down the road with their possessions. something's wrong. they tell us the rebel's fired bombs into the town on the border with uganda. the government took it from the rebels last week and civilians moved back in. we reached the town. there's been many deaths. several bombs landed along this street. this is the main street through the town. normally, it's busy with pedestrians and cars coming up and down and people buying and selling goods, now, there's body

parts scattered across the road and bodies in towns that make up three people that the soldiers are here now. they were going about their daily tasks preparing food, washing clothes. a basin is worth a lot here. when the person next to you is blown to pieces, getting away is all that matters. now it's deserted, except for soldiers. >> more people have gone to uganda. it's because they're exposed to danger. they go to rwanda, others to uganda. >> back on the road, another bomb lands in a market in the next town. more people pack their possessions and leave. a few days ago, they thought they were safe at last, but now they're fleeing in fear yet again. malcolm webb, aljazeera in the

democratic represen re public h. >> somali citizens were charged with terrorism after the deadly kenya mall shooting. al shabab claims responsibility for the attack. at least 67 people were killed in the four day siege last month. >> the case of the eighth grader who was fatally shot while holding a toy gun may go to court. his parents plan to shoot the california deputy who shot him, saying he was next and used excessive force. the 13-year-old's parents filed a claim for a federal lawsuit. the deputy says he feared for his life and mistook the toy for an a.k.47. >> police are searching for a motive after a man killed three people on a highjacked bus. it happened in a remote road in central norway, 130 niles from oslo. a 19-year-old woman and two men in their 50's were killed.

one man was the driver. no one else was on the bus. police say the suspect is in his 30's and from south sudan. >> john henry smith joins us for the latest situation on the miami dolphins situation. >> the story progressed more than anybody thought it would. the dolphins put out a statement saying neither jonathan martin nor i any other player complained about being bullied. 24 hours later, they are singing a different tune after evidence was presented. over the course of self months. martin was sent countless threatening messages. he was threatened with violence and made violent threats toward his mother. copies of these messages have been turned over to the nfl for further investigation. the top finance suspended incognito in definitely. >> since april 10, 2012, when

the players first came here, and i was the head coach, every decision i've made, everything we've done to this facility has been done with one thing in mind, and that is to help our players and our organization reach their full potential and any type of conduct, behavior that detracts from that objective is not acceptable. it's not tolerated. >> i don't feel like it was anything out of the ordinary. i don't feel anybody was being bullied, hazed, nothing like that, we're doing things football players do, playing with your brothers. i don't know how he took it. i'm not going to say too much about it. >> this is common place. bullies happens everywhere, high schools and nfl lockers rooms. locker rooms, there's this underlying code what happens in the locker room stays in the locker room, kind of like vegas. what happens in vegas stays

invasion vegas. now this has become public knowledge. to this extend, i haven't seen anything like this in the nfl. >> the culture of hazing, not just in professional sports, but in really all sports, youth sports, high school sports, when it's fun, shaving somebody's head, at the professional level, sometimes making the rookies pay for dinners is hazing. when it becomes personal, the threats of violence, that's when it crosses the line and it's no long funny, then it really becomes serious. >> also, i think it's important for folks out there to know that incognito is just really a bad guy. this is a guy who in nebraska when he was at the university of nebraska went to anger management classes. the university made him do that. he was expected to go in the first round, but a lot of teams steered clear from him. he was not drafted until the third. no surprise in regard to the individual. a lot of people steered clear. there's a big red through about incognito coming out of nebraska. >> on the field, the packers

hosted the bears on monday night football. green bay in the red zone area, rodgers trying to avoid trouble, but trouble finds him. he injuries his no one throwing shoulder. rodgers left and did not return. no injury on how bad he's hurt. i'm sure the pack hopes their back up is as good as the bears backup. a 23-yard score, bears up 27-0. >> seneca wallace is the packs back up. he rumbleles dread looks and all 56 yards, would score on the next play to tie the score. fourth quarter, bears down by three. mccown hits alshon jeffery, chicago back up. chicago wins 27-20. i'm john henry smith and that is sports at this hour. >> john, thank you. >> coming up, secret files unearths more than a thousand documents discovered in argentina. what the classified papers

reveal about that countries military rule and send core ship. >> a death defying mistake as sky divers on a pair of planes collided to save their lives. on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced

>> good morning. welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm thomas drayden. children in one african nation are getting help making it easier to get their education. many challenges remain. >> let's get a look at what potential precipitation we have today. >> we'll get a closer look at the snow, turning to parts of the midwest, coming up. we still have that flow in part from what was left over from the tropical system in parts of the southern plains. that could be one of our issues that causes an issue with one of the elections today. some of that rain moved through texas. as we see that, we're going to continue to cause some people to look at watery resources and think we're not dry anymore. that could be one of the issues today.

back to you. >> a senior chinese military commander is stripped of his rank. five people were killed in tee an man square after a car crashed. it is unclear why this general was replaced. >> hundred was documents have been discovered in argentina dating back to the so-called dirty war between 1976 and 1983. tens of thousands of people were killed, tortured or disappeared. aljazeera's erika wood has more on what these documents may reveal. >> 331 people were black listed, among them journalists, actors, musicians and writers. >> we also found documentation

of a folder which analyzes members of the media and artists with different levels according to criteria. >> it's just a fraction of those targeted in the country's so-called dirty war. rights groups estimated up to 30,000 people were killed, tortured or oh disappeared between 1976 and 1983. the military coup saw brutal crackdown and what they saw as leftwing subversives. the nearly discovered documents shed new light on pow perceived opponents were dealt with. >> the majority of documents on the issue of the disappeared were about what to say to public opinion. the internal discussions were about how to address the media and refer to disappeared people, using euphemisms.

>> thousands remain missing from this period in argentina's history, and while periodic discoveries, trials and investigations continue, many families will never go the answers they're looking for. erika woods, aljazeera. >> we should note the government there plans to publish the documents soon. >> a spacecraft launched today by india is heading for mars. if all goes at planned, it will orbit earth, then travel 834 million miles to the red planet. some have questioned the price tag for a country dealing with widespread hunger and poverty. i understand i can't defends the program, saying it creates high tech jobs. >> life is improving for children who want and education. school fees have been abolished for six to 13-year-olds. the change brings new challenges to the country's struggling school system. >> it looks like an army camp, but this is one of the newest

schools in namibia. the government abolished school fees. it has reignited passion for teaching. >> not knowing how to you write their own names, not even knowing their own name, but now i'm very proud of myself, now i feel that i'm really an educator. >> the chance are the overflow of nearby people, some students don't get enough a eat at home. the $26 a year school fee was out of reach for their parents, including this family. >> i'm happy i don't have to pay the fees, because some people can afford it, but we can't. >> the 11-year-old's education

fuels her ambition. >> when i grow up, if i become a doctor, i will help people that are sick, feeling bad, get their medicine. >> while the constitution enshines free primary education, schools charged fee to say pay for anything, from maintenance to mistakes teachers to stationery. >> by abolishing school fees, the government is providing welcome relief to the families of tens of thousands of school children, but the challenge now is to work on improving the overall quality of that education. the government knows how hard that will be, given the huge increase in students. >> maybe for the next two or three years, we will see the consequences of the gates having been opened that wide, but it also during the same period allows us to prepare our teaching force. >> the government's asking retired teachers to come back to the classroom, because next

year, it expects even more children in schools. word is spreading that without the burden of school fees, every child here has a better chance at life. aljazeera, in a namibia. >> many schools are expected to be updated. >> we do not forgive. we do not forget. >> the activist group anonymous is challenging new biker laws. the laws are meant to stop organized crime by stopping gang membership. the group said the laws could be stopped people from joining a group of any kind. anonymous has been credited with hacking high profile computer systems and is threatening to do the same to newman. newman calls the group gutless cowards who hide behind masks.

>> top finance leaders meet today as the cash strapped nation hopes to pick itself up from years of debt. how greece is handling the payoff of loans. the country received more than $300 billion in rescue funds from europe and the i.m.s. >> we are now getting an up-close look at the midair collision of two sky diving planes above wisconsin. [ screaming ] >> terrifying moments, these sky divers were preparing to jump when the planes made contact, then everybody took a big leap to save their lives. their free falling from 12,000 feet up, along with the burning wreckage of the first plane. >> all of the people aboard the plane survived. the pilot used his emergency parachute and second pilot managed to land his broken plane

safely despite the damage to the propel color and wing. the guys said they will sky dive after they get their planes replaced. >> a gunman in a new jersey mall killed himself. shoppers and employees stayed in the mall all night. >> voters across the country are chuting state and local leaders, also deciding on some key propositions. >> american and russian officials are meeting with the u.n.'s top syrian envoy to push for peace talks between the government and an opposition delegation. >> reaction coming from all parts on the dolphins bullying scandal. hear from inside and outside of the dolphins locker room, next hour in sports. >> take rain and mix in dropping temperatures and some cities will get their first snowfall of the season. i'll have that forecast. >> a task force of medical and

legal experts claims doctors actually took part in abusive interrogation of employees at guantanamo bay. >> a member of that task force will talk about the torture accuse accusations. >> we'll be back in two minutes with del walters. >> we'll have the latest on the new jersey mall shooting. we'll see you then.

>> tonight, on al jazeera america change the way you look at news at 9 pm with an encore at midnight, go deeper on the nations top stories with america tonight >> a fresh take on the stories that connect to you... >> investigative journalism that's engaging, powerful, thought provoking... >> there's nothing but hopelessness... >> it's either kill or be killed... >> america tonight, right after live news at 8 and 11 eastern. >> welcome to al jazeera america i'm john seigenthaler, and here's a look at the headlines... >> al jazeera america, there's more to it.

>> this is the nightmare scenario that unfortunately it did become a nightmare. the only deceased is the shooter. >> a gunman opened fire at a mall in new jersey, sending shoppers kneeling and prompting a massive police response. the shooter is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> voters across the country are headed to the polls on election day. there are several high profile races and important ballot measures to watch in several states. >> military doctors accused of violating their sworn oath, allegedly using torture trying

to get information from prisoners at guantanamo bay. >> if anybody had ever told me that i was going to be living in my car, i would have laughed and said that that's just not a possibility. >> and a new breed of homeless, middle class people who'sing everything choosing instead to live out of their cars instead of shelters. why that is creating controversy, though, in one community. >> the largest mall in new jersey, now the scene of this nation's latest terrifying shooting incident. we now know the loan gunman is dead and police are still sweeping through that mall store by store trying to make sure it's secure. incredibly, no one other than the gunman was hurt. police admit this attack could have been much, much worse, the shooting taking plagues at the

westfield mall. that's where aljazeera is this morning. erika. >> the manhunt ended early this morning at 3:20 when police discovered the suspected shooter's body inside the mall in an area under construction. they say that he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. >> authorities have identified the gunman in the westfield plaza mall shooting. he's 20-year-old rich shard shoop. he was found dead inside the mall with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> i don't know if his motive was to injure anyone. i can't say that right now, but i do not believe there shoop shot he would come out of here alive. >> he was dressed head to toe in black wearing a helmet and carrying a modified rifle. >> this is the nightmare

scenario, but fortunately, it didn't become a nightmare. the only person here who had any injuries obviously is the deceased shooter. >> authorities say shoop was well known to them with a long please record and history of drug use. >> when an individual that uses drugs and gets involved in those things, what happens is their life sooner or later begins to take certain turns that in this case was to shoot at the rather young age, chose to take his life. >> hundreds of heavily armed police officers swarmed the mall after the shots were fired just before closing time. witnesses heard gunfire and people started running. >> they just all wanted to get out, grabbing their kids, their stuff. they grabbed all their things. we saw that and reacted the same way and we left, we ran. >> shoop did not appear to target people inside the mall, even though he had a chance to fire his weapon. >> he looked directly in the

store and strolled past. it was terrifying. >> hundreds of people were inside the mall for hours, locking themselves in stores as a precaution. >> we are still doing a secondary search on the stores, many stores have lockdown procedures. they have locked themselves in the store, and we need to go store by store to get these people out of the -- to get them out and let them know everything is safe here. >> it's important to note police were able to zero in on this suspect fairly quickly. that's because a concerned family member reached out to them. it's also important to note that shoop had stolen the gun he used to fire those shots from his brother, and his brother had apparently obtained that gun legally. del. >> thank you very much. aljazeera's erika ferrari in new jersey this morning, thank you. >> a panic filled lockdown on a college campus caused by a

halloween costume. central connecticut state university was closed when a man with a sword was spotted. a 21-year-old student has been charged with breach of peace. his father is a professor at the school. he said he went to a costume party and didn't have time to change his clothes. >> operations back to normal at l.a.x.4 days after that shooting free in which a t.s.a. officer was killed. one officer was shot twice in the foot, and now, tony griggsby is speaking out. >> i turned around and there was a gunman who shot me twice. >> the suspect is still in critical condition under heavy sedation at the ucla medical center.

his family apologized monday for the death of t.s.a. officer hernandez. >> it is most important for us as a family to express our deep and sincere sympathy to the hernandez family. by all accounts, he was an exemplary member of the law enforcement community and a good family man. our hearts go out to his family and many others who grieve his passing. >> the family is shocked and numbed by the shootings and fully cooperating with law enforcement. >> voters in some of america's bigger cities are choosing new leaders today. boston is going to be seeing its first new mayor in two decades. atlanta incumbent faces three challengers and houston has eight opponents. seattle's mike mcginn is in a tight race against senator he had murray. whoever takes city hall in detroit will have limited powers. in new york city, a landslide

win expected by the democratic. we have more. >> among the political battles coming to a head, new yorkers will pick a new mayor. according to the latest polls, the heavily democratic city might have its first democratic mayor in 20 years. >> i say thank you. >> democratic bill deblazio leads the polls. it could bring an end to the stop and frisk policy, that critics say amount to racial profiling. in neighboring new jersey, the governor's race there could be a precursor for the presidential hopes in 2016. governor chris christie is leading barbara bono in the polls. the republican governor has garnered support from officials in the heavily democratic state. >> we need to show the republican party in america that we can win again, and guess

where they're going to be watching on tuesday night to see where we win? right here in new jersey, everybody, they're going to be watching us. >> will the next governor of the great commonwealth of virginia, terry mcauliffe. >> the president put his support behind the candidate. >> they can't afford to be idealogu ex-s. they have to work with everybody and get the job done. that's who terry mcauliffe is. >> in alabama, the tea party is looking to strengthen its place in politics, going against an established represent can't date in a primary runoff. this off year election cycle should provide a sample of where

voters stand now, especially for the republican party, looking forward to next year's crucial mid term elections. >> lots of political eyeballs also on the state of new jersey. will chris christie keep his job? aljazeera is live in asbury park, new jersey. john, lots at stake there today. >> what's at stake is nothing more than the governorship of new jersey for now. we have chris christie seeking a second term in office. his opponent is a democratic in new jersey not particularly well known outside political circles or media circles, barbara bono. she has had trouble raising money, relying on the internet and personal appearances. he's been all over the t.v. of course, it's not really the local politics, which include she wanting to raise income tax he wanting to cut income tax for all except the super rich and

him not having a particularly strong economic record here. unemployment is a full percentage point higher than the rest of the country. if kristie does well today and the polls show he might, it could bolster his chances of running on the republican ticket in the 2016 presidential election against hillary clinton? just saying, del one never know. >> john, how do the new jersey people feel about the possibility of chris christie leaving the state in just two years? >> well, i think they're pretty much resigned to oh it. chris christie is hugely popular here and his popularity stems from the days after hurricane sandy when he stood up for the state and invited president obama here just a handful of days before the presidential election in 2012. a lot of people don't agree with his politics but support him anyway. the reason he might make a good contender for the republican party is he says i'm going to do things my way and in doing things his way, he appears to be

appealing, according to the polls, to a great swath of people in new jersey, for example, not only republicans who make up 20% and democrats who make up 30%, but also the independent voters, the biggest group of voters here, 47% of people are swing voters and he appeals to them, as well. he has said that the republican party are looking closely to what he does in new jersey with one eye on that 2016 ticket. that's where we're at on this day for the moment, it's just a race for the governorship, but behind closed doors, there's so much more at stake. >> aljazeera live in asbury park, new jersey, john, thank you very much. >> voters just won't be electing candidates today. there are key ballot proposals across the country. washington state, voters will decide whether they want labels placed on genetically modified foods. in colorado, marijuana sales would be taxed and that money

used to build schools and fund law enforcement. marijuana use is legal there. colorado northern counties are trying to form a new state called new colorado. in tax, reeling from a drought, opposition six would fund you $2 billion worth of water projects. >> weather wise, where it is cold, there is always a possibility of snow and with more on your national forecast this morning, we turn to nicole mitchell. >> it is getting to that time of year especially for northern parts of the midwest where the average is for snowfall in minneapolis is november 2. we had a couple trace amounts in october, but today, october or november 5th could be our first accumulation, so pretty much right on track for that first measurable snowfall. already getting the snow this morning, places like rapid city, of course south da coat that had a big blizzard last month, so we've had measurable snowfall here. it's going to be a corridor,

wisconsin into nebraska that we have to watch today. moist air from the south, that's also contributing to the rain southward, but the dividing line between the warm antcold, that's where we're going to see as temperatures drop. that snow switch into the twin cities, for example, that's right around the return rush hour commute. that's going to make that very messy. because it's going to be on the borderline of the freezing mark, it's going to be a heavy, wet snow. the closer those temperatures are oh freezing, the more, you know, moisture is in that snow so that's the stuff that makes it heavy to shuffle. it's also the stuff that brings sometimes the tree branches down, so something to watch for power outages in this corridor under the advisory. back to you, del. >> a desperate situation in syria could be getting even worse. there's a no u.n. report that says 9.5 million people there need help. that is 40% of the population and that is a huge jump from just a few months ago.

in september, the u.n. reported that 6.8 million people needed help. 6.5 million syrians are currently homeless, roughly the population of massachusetts. 2 million people have now fled syria and 4.5 million are internally displaced. >> aljazeera's phil ittner is in geneva. all sides are trying to get to the table to talk peace, but the government would not discuss handing over power or forming a transitional government and that could be throwing a huge wrench in getting both sides to the table. >> that's right, del, that's exactly the problem here. now, u.n. special envoy for syria has brought together some major players. he's got the russians here. of course the americans are being represented by undersecretary of state wendy sure man. he's got some of the neighbors of syria and other members of

the permanent u.n. security council, but the syrians aren't here. the criticism is unless you get the combatants to the table, talks about talks and ideas how to start another geneva two, so-called is going to be hard to sell if you can't get the combatants to come. the combatants on both sides of the equation saying if the precondition is the status of bashar al assad for us to come to the table, that's a non-starter. >> with all of these preconditions, including bashar al assad saying he may not come, the opposition forces saying they may not come, how long is the international community willing to wait on all of these pretalk talks? >> well, you know, they keep moving the goal post down a few yards every time there's this five thing, saying we're getting closer to actually getting everybody to come to a geneva two, but how long can they last? it's tough, because as i say,

with a civil war with both sides unwilling to come to the table, the international community can talk as much as they want but until the actual participants are pressured or come willingly to a peace negotiation, it's just a bunch of hot air. >> phil ittner live in geneva where they are talking about these, but talking amongst themselves. >> still ahead from president to prisoner, what's next for ousted leader mohamed morsi. >> with home prices soaring in london, a rather unique idea to create affordable housing. >> a growing number of americans are being forced to live out of their cars. we'll tell you how one community is now giving them a safe place to do so.

>> good morning. welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. we're going to tell you about a housing squeeze forcing middle class residents to live in tiny

container apartments. first, let's look at how hot or cold it's going to be. >> the cold spot in the country is you the med west with the frontal boundary coming in. temperature in the 20's, 30's and 40s, ahead of that, 50's and 60's. fog in iowa, even ice fog in places like a uclaire makes its very click. i just traveled back from military duty last night, they lost my luggage, so helpfully yours stays with you with that warm weather gear. >> egypt's ousted president is in prison in alexandria, wait, inc. for his trial to resume. it was adjourned until january 8. he tells the court that he is still that countries legitimate president. he was ousted by the egyptian military. he and 14 others from his muslim brotherhood party are now charged with inciting murder

during protests against him. if found guilty, he could facing the death penalty. joining us now to discuss the trial and conditions inside egypt is a professor of law at texas a&m university and joins us from dallas this morning. morsi was the first democratically elected president. how should countries that everyone except the united states calls a coup? >> i think what happened is highly problem take that you have this first democratically elected president, who was essentially kidnapped by the military for a period of two and a half months and we've just seen him for the first time yesterday during a trial that is tainted by politicization. the government has to decide whether or not it's going to stick to american values in terms of upholding election

outcomes even if we don't like the outcome so long as the process is free and fair, which there is no question that it was for president morsi. >> does the united states still stand for democracy in the eyes of the world or would it be safe to say that the united states now stands for democracy as the nation might like to see it? >> i think the united states's reputation has certainly waned over the last 10 years because of the wars in iraq and afghanistan at least in the middle east. there is not high expectations within egyptian society that egypt is more concerned about democrats -- excuse me, the u.s. is more concerned about democracy than its own geopolitical interests. access to the suez canal, support for counter terrorism and making sure egypt will participate in america's counter terrorism policies, protecting the borders of israel and protecting the arab israeli

peace treaty. >> was this surprising, how president barack obama, one of the first places he went to talk about democracy was egypt and he said there are things we are going to change. >> i think many were disappointed in egypt and the united states. those of us who thought that u.s.-middle east policy was finally going to change, i think obama has shown that he is much more similar to his predecessor on that issue, because at the end of the day, he ended up supporting -- he is supporting the military. the only thing happening now that mainland itself to supporting democracy is that he is withholding aid, although he has not yet called is a military coup, because if he does, by american law, the aid must be cut off. he's trying to give the political space to the military to tell them could you please put in a civilian government so it doesn't look so obvious that

this is a military coup. >> thank you for being with us this morning. she is the associate professor of law at texas a&m university, shies in dallas, texas this morning. >> here's what's making news in the business world. there is more evidence that the housing market is on the rebound. the price index home shows prices rose in september compared to the same period last year. this is the 19th consecutive gain for the in definitely. on a month to month basis, prices edging up a fraction, one analyst saying that buyers shouldn't wait too much longer before they pull the trigger. >> you know, it remains a good time to buy, because in many parts of the country, prices have not adjusted up to their prior peaks. on top of that, even though mortgage rates are up, they remain far below their historical norm. >> the biggest appreciation in home prices was in las vegas, up 25%. >> on wall street, stock futures are lower at this hour.

we may see selling when it opens. the big board trading near record highs. that's where the markets are right now. the dow is at 15639, and the a&p1 those 767. >> investors in europe are waiting to hear what they are going to do about rates. >> j.p. morgan settlement talks with the government reportedly heating up once more. the wall street journal reports today that negotiators working out the final details, a deal could be reached by the end of the week. the $13 billion deal would resolve a number of investigations into the sale of mortgage bonds during the housing boom, and subsequent bust.

>> next week on aljazeera, we will bring you a special series, champions of the economy. each day, we'll show you how communities across the u.s. are using innovative ideas and programs to boost their local economies. >> here's a housing bubble in great britain to tell you about, home prices rising and outside buyers swooping in. as a result, it's getting tougher for british families to purchase homes especially if they'd like to buy a house where they grew up. we have more from london. >> people facing a crisis are often able to adapt, living in a shipping container might not seem bad if it has home comforts. >> louise who lived in a hostile house with domestic abuse, it is much better. >> it depends on who you are personally. i think living on that the streets would be more a dent to pride than a shipping container. >> the man who's idea it was

plan to say put dozens up in east london. >> i'm so angry i can't explain it, in london where we've got enormous wealth, such opulence and there's enough to go around, if people shared, if there was justice and fairness, you wouldn't require anything like this. if we don't do this, there's nothing. >> driven by low interest lathes in flux of wealthy foreigners, house prices in london have seen 10% growth and a boom for the construction industry keen to make the dreams come true for london's young model families. this huge estate right in the center of london was due to be knocked down a decade ago. thousands of poor families were moved out while plans hatched for it to be turned into affordable housing. local council in the end surrendered to the developers who will turn it into yet more million dollar amounts. >> what would be your best guess how much an apartment in this

complex is going to go for when it's done? >> the figures, are already being sold off plan, but they are millions. they are expensive apartments. >> millions of pounds. we're one mile from the house of parliament. this is london, and this is a search for soareddable housing. >> overwhelmingly, the young and less well off are being failed by the market and will never own a property to fund their health care when they get old. this will have consequences for children yet to be born. >> a top british official was talking about a tax on overseas property investors to help keep those prices down. >> a medical task force says doctors are taking part in the torture of detainees. a member of that task force is

here next to talk about accusations and what the defense department is saying about it. >> there's days that it's hard to just wake up and want to keep going. >> the unemployed and underemployed, who have lost their homes are being offered a safe place just to spend the night. >> ahead in sports, hear reaction from inside and outside the dolphins locker room rewarding the bullies scandal that has rocked that franchise. >> i'm a cancer survivor. not only cancer, but brain cancer. america tonight 9 eastern on al jazeera america

determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of those that exist as well.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following at this hour. police are still trying to figure out why a gunman entered a new jersey mall, opened fire and then killed himself, that shooting leading to an evacuation with some shoppers hiding inside the mall for hours

as police went store by store making sure it was safe. >> american and russian officials are meeting with the u.n.'s top syria envoy, pushing for peace talks between president bashar al asses government and opposition. >> it's election day across america and there are closely watches governor's races and self ballot initiatives in self states. >> a group of medical and legal experts claimed doctors did harm, vitalling international standards in the name of national security by helping u.k. military and intelligence agencies. we have more. >> this is how the head of the u.s. army medical command describes her group. >> an organization founded on army values, and the sacred trust that exists between patients and providers. >> but the military has fallen far short that have standard according to a two year review

of public records by an independent task force of american medical, legal and ethics experts. the study by the institute of medicine as a profession found that in dealing with prisoners, military intelligence agency doctors and psychologist had taken part in abusive interrogation, inducing disorientation and anxiety, used medical information for interrogation purposes and force fed hunger strikers. at guantanamo, detineees have been force fed in violation of a half century old ban by the world medical association. >> this is one of our medical ethical principles that grounds what we do as doctors is that we respect the autonomy of our patient. that's not the case here in guantanamo. >> the report accuses the defense department of failing to follow through on its own reform recommendations. >> even though there have been changes in interrogation practices, those rules are still

with us and they undermine ethical practice. >> in response, a pentagon spokesman said other inquiries show the allegation were unsubstantiated. the department will not knowingly allow a depainee commit suicide by means of weapon, medication or self imposed staffation. 14 of the 164 prisoners at guantanamo are still refusing to eat regularly. a u.s. appeals court is currently considering their legal challenge to the practice. aljazeera, washington. >> for more on the torture allegations, we're joined by dr. gerald thomson, previous off a of medicine emeritus at columbus university. doctor, the report says the report contains numerous errors.

>> we don't agree with that. we don't agree with the comment, but we don't know exactly what the c.i.a. has a problem with in respect to the report. that they haven't come up with specifics. >> were you surprised when they said that it was inaccurate and erroneous. >> yes, i was, because we don't think there are any inaccuracies or inroarens statements in the report. >> the lead-in says it all, doctors take an oath to do no harm. in some cases, they performed torture, what should happen to those doctors? should their medical licenses be revoked. >> first and foremost, it's important to understand that these doctors did not take their owner actives to be involved with interrogation. >> even if they were told to do so, that's like going into an emergency room and saying don't save that man's life. >> yes. >> so does it really matter whether they were told to do this or whether they did it of their own accord?

>> it matters a degrees deal. that's the theme of our report, very important consideration for both the medical profession and society. we expect as a society that our doctors are going to act in accordance with professional medical ethical standards, no matter where they're giving services, to patients here, to people on football teams or to the military, and that they will abide by those ethical principles, even when national security as has come to the fore. if we don't correct the situation with procedures that direct them to do things that are unethical, we're not dealing with the basic problem. >> which takes me back to the question, should their licenses, their medical practices, licenses be revoked? >> i don't think so. first of all, we don't know who the doctors were. there's a period of secrecy there between 2001 and 2005

where we didn't know anything. we do know the name of a couple of psychologists. second and even more important than that, they were following instructions from the department of defense in detention centers, told that the ethical principles that they were accustomed to before the military situation and before the detention center and before the national security problems came up were out the window, so to speak, that they were to obey the standards and operation procedures of the department of defense. i'm not sure even if we knew who the doctors were that we'd be able to bring them up on charges. >> in 1950's, there was an entire wing at georgetown university built with the help of the c.i.a. do we know what extent these doctors took place in designing the torture that took place at guantanamo? >> that is one part of the story that we do know, the details of the development of the interrogation procedures that were transformed to be used as

methods of interrogation on detainees, we do know that in great detail. what we don't know is the extent to which physicians later on when the detainees were interrogated did what was expected by the office of medical services of the c.i.a., monitor the interrogations to assess their effectiveness, to provide information from detainees to interrogators to be used in designing the interrogation. a lot of that information's just not available to us. >> thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> dr. gathered thomson is the professor emeritus of medicine at columbia university. >> a rebel group in central africa is now ending its insurgency. m23 rebels have been fighting for nearly two years. now the group says it is ready to disarm and disband its troops. the rebels say they want to pursue a political situation to end that crisis. nearly a million people have been displaced in the congo since fighting broke out last

year. >> four suspects in that kenya mall attack are pleading not guilty, all of the men are somali citizens. they were charged in a courtroom. al shabab is claiming responsibility for that attack. at least 67 people were killed in the four day siege just last month. >> the case of an eighth grader who was fatally shot while holding a toy gun could wind up in the courts. his parents plan to sue the california sheriff's deputy who shot him, they say the deputy was next and used excessive force. the 13-year-old's parents filed a claim for a federal lawsuit. the deputy said he feared for his life, thought the day was an actual aq47. >> puerto rico has been making a lot of head lines recently, but for all the wrong reasons. u.s. territory suffers from high unemspeed limit and mass migration. because of the faltering economy, it is now being called the greece of the caribbean.

in the second part of our three part series, we show how the leaders there are hoping to avoid a debt crisis. >> the family have sold just about everything they own. his wife and two sons are about to set off on a well worn path taken by tens of thousands of puerto rices before them, moving to florida. >> there are better schools, a better education. right now, my sons don't have a teacher. their teachers are missing. they will have a better shot at education. crime here is sky high. am i going to raise two criminals? no, i don't think so. this is the time to leave. >> one looks at the neighborhood and you can begin to understand why people are leaving. businesses, houses and schools are boarded up, and unemployment at a two year high and there is talk of default.

one of the only businesses still open on the main street is owned by mr. martinez, who is thinking of going back to the dominican republic. >> the people running the country have us bankrupt and it's going to stay that way. right now, we are running the business ourselves, me, my brother and mother, for free. we are not making any money. >> there are still signs of commerce here, but puerto rico's economy is shrinking at an alarming rate. officially, the unemployment rate is 13%. some economists say it's three times higher. >> the more inquality you have, the less healthy is the country. that's where we're heading right now. if we don't stop this vicious circle, we're in a race to the bottom, competing with i don't know who and competing for what, you know? we must stop this. >> puerto rico has been in and out of recession since 2006. the island is $70 billion in debt, lost 200,000 workers over

the past years and could be heading towards default. the u.s. golf said it's monitoring the situation but without financial aid life for the people who still live here could get bleaker. aljazeera, puerto rico. >> puerto rico's leaders are trying to dispel bankruptcy rumors. up to a third of all puerto rices would consider leaving the riled to find work. >> greece is set to talk with top european finance leaders today as the cash-strapped nation hopes to pick itself up from years of debt. at stake is replacement of loans and who you $2.5 billion hole will be filled in their budget. they have received rescue funds from europe and the i.m.f. >> in america, many find themselves living in their cars. it's unsafe and in some cities,

illegal, but new safe parking lots are cropping up to help them get back into their real homes. as we report, it's a visible solution to an often hidden problem. >> just before 6:00 p.m., as others start their commute home from work, teresa smith heads toward this unassuming church near downtown san diego. it's not religion she's after, it's the parking lot. dreams for change runs what's called a safe parking program, renting the lots from this church and a nearby youth center. smith started the first lot in 2010 when a new face of holelessness emerged from the great recession, middle class families accustomed to stability suddenly abrupt in long term unemployment. >> they would go down to the shelters, come back in tears saying that's not me. i'm not really homeless, i'm just in between right now. what do i do, where do i go? >> 57-year-old kathleen williams

worked until she was laid off in 2009 approximate she found work as a librarian's assistant, but that salary barely paid for a motel room. four weeks ago, she lost her job and moved into her car. >> having found this place, it made it a lot easier. you park on the side of the street, the police will come along and you know wake up, get out, go away. >> smith said seen yearses 55 and older make up one in five of those parked in the lot. veterans like alan waley account for another 20%. >> it's a struggle. there's days that it's hard just to wake up and want to keep going. >> after 12 years in the marine corps and deployment in both gulf wars, he left the military in may. he's finishing a degree in bio medical engineering and looking for full time work but so far landed only part time gigs. >> that's the reality nowadays for a lot of us. i'm just one of many veterans that is in a situation like this. >> the safe parking program has

strict rules. you must be in by 9:00 p.m. and out by 7:00 a.m. there is zero tolerance for alcohol, drugs or violence. you can stay as long as you want, provided you continue to work to get back into housing. >> graham helped create seattle's first safe parking program last year. he said a few bad eggs may lurk, but 70% of first time homeless, desperate to get back on their feet. >> we want to have a safe community where we work together, where people who need help can get into housing and employment and live the american dream that we've all got a feeling that we're justified to. >> david shuster, aljazeera. >> records of not kept of the vehicular homeless, but might be the highest since the great depression. >> investigation into phone records won't be stopped anytime soon. today's new york times said the

obama administration sees no way around the policy right now. advisors are telling the president that new technology is needed for targeted phone and internet searches. until that is developed, vault storage of data will continue. >> we do not forgive, we do not forget. >> the goop anonymous targeting new biker laws. greensland premier campbell newman said the laws are meant to stop organized crime by slowing down gang membership. the group said the laws could stop people from joining any kind of group. it is hacked computer system and now threatens newman. newman called the group cowards who behind behind masks. >> there is a worldwide protest under way, the million mask march. members are a loosely aligned group of hackers under the

umbrella of the name anonymous. that protest coincides with guy fox day. of a the attempt to blow up parliament back in 1605, the masks are reminiscent of the movie "v or vendetta." john henry smith with an update on the miami dolphins. >> amazing how the story mushroomed. sunday, the dolphins put out a at the same time indicating that jonathan martin nor any player complained about being bullied. 24 hours later, the dolphins were singing a different tune after being presented with evidence. martin was sent countless threatening messages over text and voice mail. in cagney toe threatened martin with violence and made violent threats towards martin's mother. martin turned copies of these messages over to the nfl. the dolphins have suspended incognito indefinitely.

here is reaction. >> since april 10, 2012, when the players first came here, and i was the head coach, every decision i've made, everything we've done to this facility has been done with one thing in mind, and that is to help our players and our organization reach their full potential. any type of conduct, behavior, that detracts from that objective is not acceptable. it's not tolerated. >> i don't feel like it was anything out of the ordinary. i don't feel anyone was being bullied, hazed, none of that. we're doing things that football teams do, playing with your brothers. i don't know how he took i did, so i'm not really going to say too much about it, because i don't know. >> this is common place. bullying happens everywhere. maybe to not this extent, keep in mind, lockers room, there's this underlying code that what that is in the lacquer room stays in the locker room, like

vegas, what happens in vegas stays in vegas. for a number of reasons, now this has become public knowledge. to this extent, i haven't seen anything like this in the nfl. >> the culture of hazing not just in professional sports, but in really all sports, youth sports, high school sports, when it's fun, if it's shaving somebody's head like the professional level, sometimes making the rookies pay for dinners, that's hazing. when it becomes personal, the threats of violence, that's when it crosses the line and it's no longer funny. then it becomes serious. >> it's important for folks to know that incognito is really a bad guy. this is a guy who at nebraska, at the university went to anger management classes. the university made him do that. he was expected to go in the first round. teams steered clear of him. he wasn't drafted until the third. a lot of people steered clear. there's a big red flag about

incognito coming out of nebraska. >> the packers hosted the bears. green bay in the red zone, aaron rodgers trying to avoid trouble, but trouble finds him. mcclellan drops rodgers. he left and did not return. no word on how badly he's hurt. i'm sure the pack hope their back up quarterback i guess as good as the bears. mccown gets this pass to marshall for a 23-yard score, bears up. the pack's backup q.b., 56 yards down into the red zone. lace yea would score to tie the game. bears down three in the fourth quarter, alshon jeffery for a six-yard score, chicago's backup throws for 272, chicago wins 27-20. to the nba. the 76ers were supposed to be awful, instead have been awfully good, throwing for 4-0 when the warriors came calling.

i go tall la was told he was next. en route to 32 points. and boy, he throws a mean pass to boot. the 76ers suffer their first loss of the season, the warriors win 110-90. that's sports, back to you. >> we were planning on the asphalting to tell you the truth. >> you never know. >> john henry, thank you very much. >> still ahead, a big battle over a controversial canadian oil pipeline. why the people in maine could have the final say at the ballot box. >> a rocket headed to the red planet, the first foray into the final frontier with a rather ambitious probe to mars. >> this amazing video of that sky dive that went terribly wrong, what happened of a this crash was caught on tape.

>> audiences are intelligent

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. just ahead, we'll tell you what the voters in their state are saying could become the next battleground for the environmental movement. first, let's get a look at the potential precipitation we're tracking across the country today. >> we have a couple of very wet areas across the country, texas being one of them, ironically because the state otherwise in dry conditions and drought conditions is getting rain on a day that they're going to be voting on proposition six which deals with rain and water management for the stay. a moist flow through the central plains continues. we have the snow side, northern place, places like minneapolis, first measurable snow today, could be significant right at the return rush hour. >> india has set its sight on mars. early this morning, a rock soared toward the red planet, india hopes to join the club of space elite. some in that country are asking

why millions would be spent on a mars mission rather than widespread hunger and poverty in the country. officials say it creates high tech jobs and helps to solve problems back here on earth. >> the people of south portland main are voting on whether a pipeline should run through their tone. some say it is economic prosperity, others an environmental nightmare waiting to happen. >> it's a small protest that could be anywhere in america, but this is south portland, maine, and star are are a believes the chance her state has become the next battleground for the environmental movement. >> out doors, we enjoy the lifestyle we've come to take for granted and now people are realizedding they have to stand up and fight for it. if we don't fight for it, there's going to be big industry coming along and threatening it, which is happening right now,

the existing pipeline. >> the pipeline has sparked a controversy here is owned by the portland pipeline corporation. it has supplied montreal with oil for decades. the new idea would reverse the flow and being tar sands oil down to maine to be shipped out an tankers. >> environmentalists encourage residents here to vote for a waterfront protection ordinance that could block the construction of a new facility needed for the export of tar sands. they say allowing the oil to cross their state is simply not worth the risk. >> it's thicker, in order to move it through pipe lines one have to have it at a higher heat and a higher pressure, so the chances of it bursting are that much greater. >> not everyone agrees. bugs light is where john martin comes to fly his kites and also where they could build the smoke stacks.

>> i think what's going to happen is you're going to have people pull out of portland and send them someplace else. until there actually is a problem, let's give it a shot. >> ther sarah takes this 45 mins outside portland. >> this pipeline runs alongside through here through this wet land. this is training off into the lake. it's the largest public water supply to the state. this pipeline is over six decades old, and the possibility of having a leak here would not only devastate the local economy and all the folks that come here to enjoy the lake and to yourism, but would also make the drinking water supply no longer available to thousands of folks here in the state. >> in the end, it's the city residents who will decide whether to let tar sands into town, but oil executives and environmentalists across america will be watching. aljazeera, south portland,

maine. >> tar sands has more carbon in it than other fuels. environmentalists say that oil will increase global warming. supporters say there are nearly 100 job openings posted just for that pipeline. >> we're now getting a closer look at a midair collision involving two sky diving planes. take a look. [ screaming ] >> these sky divers were preparing to jump on saturday above wisconsin when the planes made contact. then everyone took a big leap just to save their lives. they were free falling from 12,000 feet along with the burning wreckage of the plane. all 11 onboard survived. if your're indicted? >> breaking the story real reporting, this is what we do... al jazeera america

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